Originally composed of 16 men between the ages of 18 and 40, the group grew over time from an all-male workshop to a small-scale movement with male and female members.
Live performances by the organization were held at a variety of formal and informal locations, including Joseph Papp Public Theater, Second Stage, Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), the Desh Pardesh Festival (Toronto), and many colleges and universities, presenting narratives of the Asian American community through a combination of poetry, theater, dance, and music.
Outside of productions, the collective worked to familiarize group members with a broad range of theatrical skills, including performing and writing in addition to producing and directing.
The collective went on hiatus in 2003 following a three-week festival of single-act plays called “Under the Skin.”[3] April 1994 (Los San Angeles) – December 1995 (New York) Gary San Angel, the would-be founder of Peeling, participates in the “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Asian Men (But Didn’t Give Enough Of A Shit To Ask” autobiographical writing and performing workshop in Santa Monica, CA.
[7] July 1999 (Philadelphia, PA) San Angel hosts “The Philly Summit” to gather all East Coast Peeling-related groups for workshops and games to unify them, including trust exercises and collaborative storytelling.
[5] February 2000 (Philadelphia, PA) Jin Auh reformed Peeling with fellow members Gita Reddy, Fitz Mangubat, Aileen Cho, Ed Lin, Regie Cabico, Carla Ching, Michel Ng, and Dan Bacalzo, with San Angel's blessing, creating a committee-based hierarchical structure and appointing the first official leadership.
[1] March 2002 – July 2003 (Philadelphia, PA) Gita Reddy, with the help of fellow Peelers, started compiling a chronological account of the group's growth and appearances, aware of the relevance of Peeling to Asian American history and its fragile presence primarily in members' and viewers' memories.
[9] Notable members of Peeling the Banana and Peeling include Gary San Angel (founder), Jin Auh, Gita Reddy, Fitz Mangubat, Aileen Cho, Ed Lin, Regie Cabico, Carla Ching, Michel Ng, Dan Bacalzo, Sarita Khurana, Parag Khandhar, Ngo Thanh Nhan, Tamina Davar, Mike Kang, Dave Lin, Hugo Mulchand Mahabir, and Bertrand Wang.